Volvo has teamed up with Microsoft to add an innovative new feature to its Volvo on-Call application that lets owners talk to their cars.

Motorists who own a late-model Volvo and a Microsoft Band 2 will soon be able to give their car basic instructions from a distance. After pressing a button on the Band 2, owners can turn on the heater, lock or unlock the doors, flash the lights, or sound the horn using only voice commands. The last two features promise to markedly improve the lives of motorists who routinely lose their car in a crowded parking garage.

The application can also be used to remotely send navigation directions to the infotainment system, and to start the engine from a distance. Volvo explains the new addition to its Volvo on Call application only begins to scratch the surface of what can be done with voice control technology. It’s not too far-fetched to imagine drivers will be able to summon a car out of a parking spot in the not-too-distant future.

Microsoft and Volvo are busily developing new tech features to make customers’ lives easier, safer, more fun, and generally better.

“Together with Volvo, we’re just beginning to understand the potential that technology has to improve driver safety and productivity,” explained Peggy Johnson, Executive Vice President of business development at Microsoft, in a statement.

Volvo’s remote voice control technology sounds like it was developed for a science fiction movie, but it will be available in select markets starting in the spring of this year. The Swedish company has yet to release a comprehensive list of the models the technology will be compatible with, and it hasn’t announced if the service will cost money. Similarly, whether the technology will be compatible with other wrist-worn devices is up in the air.

Looking for your first fitness tracker, or an upgrade to the one you're already wearing? There are plenty of the wrist-worn gadgets available. Here are our picks for the best fitness trackers available right now.

Audi is bringing two technologies to CES 2019. The first turns a car -- a luxury sedan, in this case -- into a drive-in movie theater. The second is presented as a new entertainment format that turns the journey into the destination.

California approved a regulation that targets an all-electric public bus fleet for the whole state by 2040. The effect of the full implementation of the regulation is equivalent to taking 4 million cars off the road.

Ford is ending 2018 by venturing into the doghouse market. The company's European division has built a kennel equipped with active noise-canceling technology and soundproof walls that help dogs sleep through fireworks.

Your car and your smartphone are becoming one, yet smartphones branded or co-created by car companies are a problem. We look at the history, some examples of the best and worst, then share hopes for the future.

The best compact cars on the market rival their counterparts in many ways, proving that bigger isn’t always better. Here, we've rounded up some of the better options available, including an SUV and an electric alternative.

The 1961 Lincoln Continental became a design icon thanks to center-opening "coach doors" (also known as "suicide doors"). Lincoln is bringing those doors back for a special edition of the 2019 Continental.